Shadow
by Silverstream5683
Summary: Shadow has no memory of his life in this world. He awoke to find himself in a new body, but the longer he is here the more he remembers about a life he forgotten he had. Time is running out though as new dark forces arise from their prisons. Along with his new friends and new abilities he just may be able to destroy these new forces before old ones have a chance to reemerge
1. Arrival

**Arrival**

 **This story is back underway it has been far too long since I have written and I need to return to something I enjoy. So why not this story my first fanfic that was left unfinished and unproofed. I will be working my way through each chapter until I catch up to where I left off. Small details and some large ones may change so why not give this story another read? I do not know if anybody is reading this, but I will finish it this time no matter how long it takes me.**

 **Sincerely Silverstream5683**

 **Chaio**

The soft shine of the pool greets me as I walk into the darkened cavern. I approach it and a feeling of peace envelops me as a soft voice calls out to me "Shadow" suddenly a deafening blast blows me on my face. I roll around, scooting away from the entrance that is now a wide gap in the wall. A figure is standing in the settling dust, a short portly man with a rather bushy mustache. He approaches me slowly with a slight hitch in every other step. "Ah yes, Shad," He says in a matter of fact voice raising a short wooden cane and jabbing it at me "You may be a sneaky little rat, but you did lead me right to what I wanted."

"Hello Ivan," I say with a determined look keeping my eyes locked on his. I slowly get back to my feet towering a full foot over the short man "Yeah about that" I take a glance back at the pool. This pool of water which was so unassuming no one would probably bother with it is what I've been trying to find for years. It called to me when I was young. It was a nag in the back of my mind was trying to remind me of something forgotten something that I lost somewhere I needed to return to. I had searched for several years to find it, and now I stood there minutes away from discovering what that was exactly. There was the simple fact of dealing with this unwanted visitor. I turn back to face the man. "Ivan," I say curtly.

"Step away from it boy and I won't have to hurt you," He says "I know its powers I know what it can grant me!" He concludes this by pulling a revolver out of a holster hidden inside of his jacket.

I give an annoyed sigh and slowly step towards him my hands help up in surrender. Ivan was an old partner of mine, he was older and knew more about the unnatural, but he didn't have the same drive to find this unassuming pool of water as I did. Well, at least not until I lied to him a little but that it granted any wish you desired. Now he stood there in his ignorance of the situation pointing a gun at me without knowing truly why. "Now Ivan let's not be hasty," I say softly "Just put that down" I eye the gun with a slightly fearful look.

Ivan looks down at his gun for a second then lowers it "Fine just step away and let me at the pool," He waits for my response.

"Now why would I do that," I say lunging at him and throwing him to the ground before turning back and dashing to the edge of the small cliff overlooking the pool of water. I turn to face Ivan again to see that he had picked himself back off the ground and retrieved his firearm. His face was red with anger and he pointed the gun back at me. I barely have a moment to react before a gunshot rings out and I'm hit in the shoulder, throwing me backward and plunging deep into the pool below. As I sink a voice fills my ears and a soft lullaby is sung.

 _Oh love oh love come back to me_

 _From whence you came and your home you'll soon be_

 _Oh love oh love sleep soundly_

 _As you find your way back home_

 _The danger has passed and the fire is warm_

 _The love you once lost is waiting here_

 _Oh love oh love return to me_

 _So that I may sleep without fear_

It repeats until I can hold my breath no more. Panicking, I let out a choking cry as I try to breach the surface but a force and my damaged shoulder keep me from rising up. Instead, I find myself drug down farther and farther until only darkness looms above. Blackness fills my vision and my mind goes blank.

There is the sound of crickets around me as my eyes drift slowly open. "Huh?" I say confused as I lift my head to look around "What?" Something doesn't feel right and soon I figure out why. My body is gone, or at least that's what I think at first. It's been replaced by a different body. In the moonlight, I see that I have been turned into a dragon. I have black scales and black leathery wings. The realization of my situation dawns on me after a few seconds of mental computing and I lift myself up. The shock of the situation slowly wears off as I get my feet underneath me. Suddenly there's a searing pain in my left shoulder and I look down to see blood oozing out and dripping to the ground. I remember although it's foggy at the moment that I was hurt by a man with a gun. 'Gun?' I think 'what is that' it seems like my memory has faltered and it's hard for me to recall things because I knew what a gun was. Or did I? I push the thought aside and know that there is something in the wound and that it needs to be taken out. Lucky for me a quick check shows that I have what appear to hands. They are now large taloned paws. So, sitting down, I take a deep breath and insert a talon into the wound. It's absurdly painful but soon enough I feel the hard lump of the metal that has lodged itself deep within the wound and I slowly begin to work it out. In the span of what seems like hours, I feel the hunk of metal exit my body and look down at it. It's a little copper slug stained with blood. The wound begins to seep more blood now that it's cleared, I need to find help. I can't do much about that now so I get up and begin to limp forward. Walking proved to be easier to master than I thought now that I was on all fours, but soon I was making my way along albeit slowly. My shoulder hurt and I was getting tired and dizzy as I walked stumbling through the dense forest, but I needed to keep going. Lucky for me I find a small game trail that winds through the woods heading in a definite direction so I decided to take it.

After a while of walking along this narrow winding trail, I pop out onto an even larger dirt road. "Finally," I say to myself as I look left then right. The right holds nothing but darkness but I think I can see light may be coming from the left, or that could be moonlight. Either way, I turn left and begin to limp along the path. As I walk there is rustling in the bushes and I hear wolf cries in the forest. Surely nothing would mess with a dragon right? As I was I begin examining my body looking over the fine details in my scares and how sharp my talons are, I stop dead in my tracks as I hear voices down the road. Quickly and quietly I slip off the road and into the shrubs that line its sides.

"Come on Cynder it's fine, ok?" A male voice says as it comes into earshot.

"Yes, I know that, but what if there're apes are out in the forest Spyro?" Another voice presumably Cynder replies.

"Do you think they'd attack two dragons?"

"No, not really."

"Then relax it's just a midnight walk in the moonlight," The male voice says "Anyway who knows what's out here in the night it could be an adventure."

I'm quiet as a mouse, still rustling the shrubs I'm crouched in but trying my hardest to stay still and quiet. I watch the road with unblinking eyes and soon the owners of the voices come in to view. Two rather slim but large dragons. One of them, the male presumably, is purple and yellow and the other, female, black with purple. They stop standing under a beam of moonlight that is casting through the trees and look at each other. The purple dragon smiles and looks around "It's quite beautiful out here," He says. He's being a total cheese I can even notice he's talking about what's her name and so can she. I watch as she giggles and moves in for a kiss, oh how romantic, but just then my body decides to buckle my knees and I crash to the ground. The pain is blinding and the roar that tears from my throat echoes through the forest. I'm guessing the tiredness and the pain is what sapped me of strength. I look up to see the two lovebirds cautiously approach my hiding spot. Their expressions bore those of hardened warriors, their eyes wide and focused, their bodies poised to strike out at any moment. A sudden fear strikes me as adrenaline pumps through my veins and I find myself hauling up and turning tail. The pain in my shoulder is all but forgotten as I crash through the underbrush and dodge trees. I hear shouting behind me and keep running. As I pass through small clearings I see a shadow on the ground and look up to see a figure in the sky following me. My completely unfounded fear drives me to keep going I cant keep going like this. I find myself coming to a crashing stop in a rather large clearing and I stand there turning in circles until what I feared happens. Out of the trees, the purple dragon emerges and approaches me. He looks astonished to see me, not at all hostile, but I back away slowly bearing my teeth. As well as him the other black dragon lands behind me and I whip around to face her as well. They have me cornered, but I can feel my strength ebbing away with each passing moment and blackness encroaching on my vision. 'Am I going to die?' the thought flashes through my mind quickly. My should has a steady flow of blood coming out of it leaving small pools as I back away from the two dragons. They look worried now trying to approach but I lash out in fear. The last thing I can remember as my legs fail me and I crash to the ground is the fear that is in both of the dragon's eyes...then, blackness.


	2. Flying Lessons

**Flying lessons**

 **The second chapter has been reworked I am quickly getting this done so I can progress the story along. Please enjoy the reworking of this story thank you and Chaio.**

Screaming fills the air and I open my eyes. I am sitting on a cliff looking down over a battle. It's more of a slaughter as I watch warriors who seem to be made of shadows move between houses and violently killing all who get in their way. The city the battle has overtaken is slowly burning. I try to move but my legs seem to be rooted to the ground. I hear a roar in the distance and look to see dragons flying towards the city. They are all wearing heavy golden colored armor and a red dragon leads them as they descend upon the city. The dark forces sense a change in the battle as I watch them begin to flee leaving the dead in their wake. They seem to melt away and the city becomes eerily quiet. Suddenly the cliff I am standing on erupts and throws me off of it sending me falling towards the ground.

The sun has risen and casts a warm glow in the room I wake up in as I jerk up after hitting the ground in my sleep. I take a deep shaky breath and look around. The room is cozy with a red rug sitting in the middle of it. I am laying on a rather large bed 'for a dragon' I think to myself. I notice a bookshelf beside the bed and a desk beside that. Scrolls and books lay open on it. The door is opposite the bed and the desk is underneath a window. The room has wooden floors and walls most likely the house is a wooden cottage.

I yawn and feel my stomach give a grumble as a wave of hunger comes over me. I get up slowly and feel my shoulder ache. I look down at it and see that it has been cleanly bandaged. My memory of the previous night surfaces and I remember dimly that I was picked up and drug away, but I had blacked out soon afterward. I cautiously walk forward but find my shoulder will not support any weight on it. Knowing this I limp slowly to the door and peek out into the hallway. I look down the left and see a door that opens to a room I also see another door to another room. I slink out of the room and down the hall until I reach the first doorway and peek inside. It has two large bookshelves filled with several books and scrolls and there is also a large table that takes up the center of the room with a big map and several other scrolls open on it. I move on until I reach the end of the hall. It opens up to a large room and to the left there is a table with chairs that are pushed up against the wall, dragons don't need chairs but guests might, and a chandelier, with candles in the sockets, hangs over the table. To the right is a living room with two large couches that are situated facing a fireplace. The rest of the room is empty, but the floor is not wood but instead stone.

As I glance around the room the front door opens and the purple dragon walks in with a dead deer on his back. He is followed by the black one who has a deer as well as some rabbits hanging off her back. "Do you think he's awake," The black one asks.

"Yeah, I think so," The purple one replies with a chuckle as he looks across the room and sees me standing in the hallway. Depositing his deer on the stone floor he walks across the room towards me "Good morning" He says smiling "How are you? Are you hungry? Is your shoulder doing ok?"

His barrage of questions catches me off guard as I simply nod my head in answer. He smiles again and beckons me to follow him. He leads me over to the black dragon. She looks up from the deer she had set down "Well it's good to see you are able to get up and about," She says "I'm sorry we don't have much healing crystals they don't really grow well around here, but the bandages seem to be doing alright." She moves closer and checks the bandages over and smooths them out. She stops as I flinch in pain. "Sorry," She says quickly and a retreats back to the two dead deer and rabbits.

"We figured you were hungry," The purple dragon says "We needed to go hunting so we brought back a little more. We don't usually eat at the table unless we have guests and have to cook the food. That's what this big stone part in the floor is for." He pats the ground "It is easy to clean the blood off and since we don't have to cook our food really we can just eat it right here." He smiles warmly although the atmosphere in the room is awkward.

I have been silent the entire time but I look at the dead animals and my stomach turns. I haven't eaten raw food at all in my life so this certainly didn't look appetizing. "I uh," I begin to say and look at the ground "Thank you." I resign myself to at least try to eat something. Being a dragon it must be alright for me. "I never got your names," I look up at them.

"I'm Spyro," The purple one says

"I'm Cynder," The black one says

"Spyro and Cynder," I say softly "Well thank you very much for helping me."

"What's your name," Spyro asks me

This takes me a second to reply to. I could easily say my name was Shad, but for some reason, that name didn't quite really suite me anymore. I scratch my head and think when somewhere in the recesses of my mind something clicks. "Shadow," I say without hesitation. That name fits as if it was always mine, for some reason I do think it is my name.

"Well Shadow you seem very hungry," Cynder says and picks up a deer and deposits it at my feet "So you can have the entire deer to yourself. Don't worry two rabbits and half of the other deer are more than enough for me" She adds that last part quickly as I give a slightly guilty look. She lowers her head down over the rabbits and picks it beginning to tear into it.

I watch Spyro join her as he fills his stomach with the deer and I look down at my food. Lowering my head I take a deep breath and choose a spot between its shoulder and back I sink my teeth into it and blood fills my mouth. For a second my human instincts kick in but are soon washed away as my primal dragon ones overpower them. The deer is delicious and soon I find myself tearing it apart as my hunger is slowly sated. The deer has been reduced to a pile of bones and organs that I would rather not eat. Giving a small burp my stomach is full. I look over to Spyro and Cynder who have finished the deer and rabbits and are getting up.

"Nice and full," Spyro asks me as he begins to put the bones from his and Cynder's meal into a pile.

"Yes very," I reply as I pick up my bones and add them to the small growing pile. I watch as he goes into a room off to the left that I just now noticed and returns with a sack and he holds it open and I get the idea and begin to pick the bones up and dump them in it. Once the sack is full and the mess all cleaned up Spyro ties the sack closed and gripping the bag between his teeth he walks over to the front door and motions for me to follow.

"I'll clean the floor up," Cynder says and heads off into the same room which I found out to be the kitchen.

Spyro and I head outside and around the corner of the house to what I see to be a burn pit. He dumps the contents of the bag into the pit and I watch as he takes a breath and then a jet of flame shoots out and sets the bones and entrails alight. Once he's done with that he turns to me "Last night after we got you back here I went off to the dragon temple," he says this as if I knew what he's talking about "I had to let them know I found another dragon." He looks back at the fire and then clears his throat "After I defeated Malefor the dragons have slowly begun returning, even when we were still fighting him actually," He gives me a rather big grin "But you see besides Cynder we haven't seen any other black dragons"

I give him a blank look "Is that important," I ask becoming very confused about the situation.

"Well black dragons are becoming as rare as me," He says chuckling slightly "You get it since purple dragons are only born every ten generations" He looks at my even blanker expression and clears his throat "Well anyway Volteer told me to bring you there as soon as I could, and seeing as your out and about I might as well take you there today" He stands up "I figured we could get ready to fly out in an hour or so"

It's my turn to clear my throat "uh," I begin "I don't know how to fly"

"You what," He says startled "Every dragon knows how to fly its instinct." He walks over to me "You know I used to think I couldn't fly too but an old friend of mine showed me just how easy it was." He gives me a pat on the shoulder "Come on Ill prove it to you" He stands up and begins to walk back around to the front of the cottage with me in pursuit.

He leads me to a rather open part of the ground with no trees around and a clear blue sky overhead. "Ok first you need to try and get in this kind of stance for a good take-off" He crouches on his front paws with his back arched slightly and his wings extended out with his back legs bent and claws dug into the ground. I mimic the stance as well as I can but I keep all my weight on my front feet firmly on my right foot. He looks me over and corrects a few problems "Ok all you need to do is push off with your front leg and drive your wings down and as you pick yourself off the ground push off with your back legs." He shows me a quick version of a perfect take-off and jumps up ten feet in the air and drops back down agilely. "Now you try it," he says promptly.

Taking a deep breath I try to do it as well. I push myself off the ground with my right leg and bring my wings down. Suddenly I feel almost weightless and then I push off with my back legs and I find myself climbing into the air. Flying almost came as natural as walking and I find myself hovering in place looking down at the ground twenty feet below. The steady rhythm of my wings beating the air to keep me afloat and the effortless work being put into the task fills me with an unexplainable joy. I see Spyro take off and climb up coming to rest hovering in front of me and he smiles. I drive my wings down harder and swoop up and over him and begin to fly around with him chasing me. "This is amazing" I cry out and dive down towards the ground just to pull up and soar higher. Soon I find myself in a predicament. "Uh, Spyro" I call out to the purple dragon as he approaches me "how do I land?"

He chuckles "Just do what I do," He says and glides down to the ground and as he comes close to crashing he beats his wings down as if to take off again but instead he drops his hind legs onto the ground and then falls to his front legs and steps forward to cancel the forward momentum.

With that in mind I land and adjust myself so I don't accidentally fall on my left shoulder. It was a bit harder to stop but by digging my claws into the ground I found it wasn't much of a chore. "That was amazing," I have a huge grin on my face "But I'm thirsty where we can get a drink"

"There's a stream behind the house follow me" Spyro moves off around the house towards the burn pit. I hear the soft sound of a gurgling stream as we approach it. It flows right past the back of the house and off into the forest "It's clean and clear water that flows off the mountains and through the forest," Spyro explains.

I dip my head down and for the first time get a picture of what I look like. In the reflection I see a bone white horn growing on the end of my nose as well as stubs growing along ridges that encompass my eyes and flow down the back of my head where two horns sit curved back. My eyes are blood red and I open my mouth to see a set of razor-sharp teeth. Remembering my thirst I lean down and take a long drought to quench it.

Spyro, finished, had already turned to head back to the house and I finished up quickly and followed him. "If it's ok with you we can head out in an hour," Spyro says over his shoulder "It's about a half day flight from here, but nothing we can't manage just have to skirt a few mountains along the way"

I nod "I'm fine with that" I reply.

Soon I find myself standing out in front of the cottage again with Spyro and Cynder. "You can stay here Cynder once I've gotten Shadow to the temple I'm heading straight home," Spyro says "I might be home a little late though."

Cynder nods "Ok just be careful," She turns to me "Especially you, don't go tearing open your shoulder."

I chuckle "I won't I promise," I say giving her a reassuring smile.

"Good," she says "Oh and Spyro be careful on the way back. You know how the apes like to shoot at dragons during the night"

"Cynder for the last time I told you the apes have been dispersed they're not going to mess with a dragon," Spyro says almost exasperated "But, ok I will be careful don't worry" He had added the last part as Cynder gave him a very aggravated look.

"Thank you," She walks to Spyro and gives him a kiss "I love you ok I'll see you when you get home" She walks over to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "You be safe too don't let the elders get to you"

I want to ask her what she meant but Spyro had quickly taken off and I followed behind swiftly. As we flew Cynder's words echoed in my head. Did she know something about the disappearance of black dragons? Spyro had said they had become very rare and that Cynder and I were the last ones, or at least the only ones known about. These thoughts plagued my mind as we flew farther and farther. I saw the mountains the stream flowed from within minutes of flying and we passed over their low peaks with ease.

As the sun slowly creeps across the sky the scenery below us shifts ever so slightly. We have mainly traveled over forests and the occasional mountain, but by the time noon passed I could see a rather large mountain range in the distance. "We're almost there," Spyro said over his shoulder as we approached them. Soon enough we were circling around one of the larger peaks and once we have circumvented it the gap in the mountains opened up to show us a beautiful bowl valley. The valley is brimming with a lush forest and a large glistening lake that encircles a small mountain the temple is rested atop. A long winding river cuts its way through the trees towards the lake and I can see another river that goes all the way to the other side of the valley and disappears into a crevice that is carved between the distant peeks. The air is fresher here with a sweet scent that seems to rise up from the greenery below. It's exhilarating and fills me with energy. "The dragon temple," Spyro said shortly and continued on. Soon we will land and our little adventure will really begin.


	3. Abilites

**Abilities**

 **Wooboy this chapter was a doozy to rewrite. The main idea is still there, but I added more dialogue between Shadow and Volteer where I felt it needed to be. Anyway, as always enjoy this rewrite and I will be getting the new chapter soon...hopefully. Chaio.**

As we approach the temple Spyro glides down towards a platform that is jutted away from the temple, a landing pad of sorts and is connected with a short stone bridge. He lands and steps out of the way as I come in for a landing. "We made it," he says with a smirk "not half bad huh? Anyway, follow me the temple can get confusing when you don't know your way around." With that, he turns and leads me through a complex maze of hallways until we arrive at a large stone door. "Ok, here we are,"

I catch my breath before trying to talk. "Thank you again," I tell him "I don't know what would have happened if you and Cynder hadn't come along."

"Don't worry about it," He says and puts a paw on the door and pushes it. Slowly the door slides open and I find we are now in a short hallway that opens up into a large room at the end. Voices drift down the hall to us.

"Well, this is most disastrous, dreadful, terrible, dire…" A voice says continuing on it its redundant ramble.

"Volteer, quiet," a deeper, authoritative, voice growls "I don't need another headache. We need to find out who's been attacking the caravans."

"Well Terrador friend I say we do," yet another voice interjects with an agreement "I don't believe we can keep repairing the temple or Warfang without supplies coming in from the outer colony mines."

"Thank you for stating the obvious Cyril," the one I assumed was Terrador stated "But we cannot spare anyone to go find out. The cheetahs have steered clear of the area and the moles cannot protect themselves as they transport the goods. As well as that no dragon will offer his aid to help us."

I look at Spyro and I see a dawn of revelation cross his face as he rushes forward into the chamber with me limping slowly behind, my shoulder began to throb on our romp through the temple up to this point. A sudden cheer of greetings accompanies Spyros entrance into the room. The end of the hall seems to extend farther away as I approach it and I speed up trying to catch it but it continues its retreat away from me. When it seems like I'm not going to ever reach the end I find myself exiting the hall and into the room. I glance around and see three dragons huddled around what looks like a pool of water with Spyro standing between two of them, a large green and another large blue one, and suddenly all eyes are on me.

As I look from dragon to dragon, I see a radically different emotion in each set of the eyes. The yellow dragon seems to be curiously interested in me while the blue one holds skepticism, but it's the green one's eyes who root me in place and sends chills down my spine. His eyes are filled with a burning hatred for the mere sight of me. "H-hello," I managed to choke out while his eyes bore into my soul.

He turns to his yellow partner and with a strained note of calm in his voice "Volteer you have some explaining to do." He bares his fangs ever so slightly.

Volteer looks sheepish for a second "Yes well…"

Spyro speaks up "Terrador calm down I'm the one who brought him here," He says quickly "Don't get mad at Volteer, if anything, get mad at me."

"Well, Spyro, I'm sure you had every good intention," Terrador says "But I will not allow him to stay here"

"Now Terrador," The blue one, Cyril I think, interjected.

He was cut off abruptly "No he will not be allowed here," Terrador let out a growl

"You let Cynder stay here so why not him," Spyro had come up in arms against the large green dragon

"Spyro I trust your judgment and I know this seems unfair, but you do not know what I know," He says "And Cynder was an exception she didn't choose that path in life."

"So you're going to assume this dragon is evil just because of the color of his scales," Spyro replied becoming angry.

"Spy..."

"No you listen to me Terrador," Spyro said with venom in his voice "I vouch for this dragon and I say he's ok so you'd better let him stay in here or we are going to have a real problem." He has a fire in his eyes as he stares the large dragon down. "And anyway we need to talk about these caravans that have gone missing."

Terrador gives a large sigh "Fine he can stay," He says throwing an angry glance my way "But he had better not cause trouble." He looked back at Spyro "And about the caravans, we can talk about it somewhere else, but you don't need to worry about it nothing valuable has gone missing." He stands up and begins to walk to a door that was to the right of the hall I just exited. Spyro follows behind him and stops in front of me and gives me a quick smile.

"You'll be fine here," He says with a smile and continued following Terrador.

I watch them leave and then suddenly the large yellow dragon, Volteer I guessed, was standing next to me. "Ah, this is fascinating, exciting, delightful..."

"Volteer," Cyril speaks up "Calm down,"

"Ah yes, yes ok," He says "Anyway it's been so long, so very very long, since we've had a black dragon in the temple. Well aside from Cynder of course," He looks me over and his eyes stop on my bandaged shoulder "You're wounded." He states "Well don't worry about this we can get it healed up quite quickly I can show you around and we can head to the healing chamber." He walks down the hall Spyro and I entered through and stops at the door looking over his shoulder at me. "Well come on," he says.

I look back at Cyril and see he's deeply engrossed in the pool of water and turn to follow Volteer. I find that Volteer doesn't like to be quiet as we walk back outside and he shows me along a path that skirts the outside of the temple. All along the way, he continues to comment on how rare black dragons are and that he only knew of one, Cynder, and that it is fascinating to find another one. "Spyro came to the temple last night and told me he found another dragon," He says stopping in front of another large golden door, "He said it was a black dragon and I told him to bring you here as soon as possible." He pushes the door open and it opens into a large hall it's finely decorated up and down with large wooden doors and carvings of dragons and ancient runes that I could not read. The ceiling rises high above my head and fine golden chandeliers with what seems like balls of light that sit in the sockets normally taken by candles. The magical light casts warm glow where the sunlight from outside cannot reach.

As we walk down the hall I'm suddenly surrounded by hundreds of little creatures as a bell tolls. Volteer looks around "Ah yes the moles," He says and looks down at my confused expression "You see after Malefor was defeated we needed the moles to help repair the temple." He motions to all the cracks and destruction in the walls ahead of us, as well as several carvings are destroyed and large chunks of the wall are simply missing as if something or someone was sent through them. "The moles helped build this temple, so it's only natural we ask them to help us rebuild it," He lets out a heavy sigh as he looks at what once was a lavish carving of a large stoic looking dragon. The runes below it are all but gone and illegible. "They are quite the workers though," he says motioning to the halls behind us that are pristine and almost shining, "they were able to restore most of the halls, the main chamber as well as the kitchens and the library quite quickly, but sadly much of the temple still lies in ruins." He continues to walk and the moles make a path for he and I to walk through.

Soon the moles have dispersed through several of the doors around us and the hall grows quiet again aside from the small group of them that have taken to repairing more of the hall starting with the carving we had just passed. Volteer continues walking down the hall until we enter another large chamber at the end. I can see this chamber has no floor but instead there are large stone stairs that lead down winding around the walls all the way to the bottom where I can see another large door. "This is where we gather supplies for our healing rooms," He says motioning to the darkness down below "We find the crystals grow quite well inside the cavern down there so the room was built around it."

"That seems like it'd be hard for someone who is hurt pretty badly to get to," I say.

"Oh well the main healing chamber is still in ruins but we are working on rebuilding it now," He says "Once it's rebuilt we will continually stock healing crystals inside it." He begins to make his way down the stairs and I follow close behind him. As we descend the air become cooler and more humid and I can see water condensed on the walls and each step I have to take care since I may slip, this compounds with the ache in my shoulder making it very hard for me to walk. Soon enough the bottom is in sight and we finish the small journey down to stop in front of a set of large golden doors Volteer pushes it open and I find myself stepping into a large stone cavern that has red crystals growing out of the walls and ground they have a slight hum to them and glow red casting the whole cavern in a haunting red color that blends into shadows in the darkest corners. It is noticeably warmer in here as well. Volteer walks up to rather large crystal and breaks it off and brings it over to me. "Just crush this under your foot and it will help heal your wound," He says laying the crystal in front of me.

I put a cautious foot on the crystal and feel a warmth coming from it. It shatters under my weight and I'm surrounded by a cloud of red dust and I feel the warmth seep into my body and suddenly my shoulder doesn't ache as much. I look at it and peel the bandage off and see the hole has healed and the scales are now growing back over it. I feel an incredible urge to just scratch at what once was the wound and stare in disbelief at what just happened. "That's amazing," I say softly putting my left leg down I put my weight on it and feel no pain.

"Ah yes that worked quite well didn't it," Volteer says "Now I am curious to know what breath ability you possess."

I look at him confused "A what," I ask.

"You don't know what…" He stops talking and looks down probably in thought. He gets up and walks out of the room telling me to follow him. I walk after him and he quickly leads me back up the stairs and stops in front of a door in the hall and pushes it open. As I step through it and I find myself standing in a large library. The room is round with shelves all along the walls and in the middle is a large statue of a dragon. He walks in and starts pulling off books and scrolls and sets them on a table at the far end of the room and beckons me over to him. "These books show the several different abilities any dragon can possess," He says "They also present the basic techniques. We can read them and will find out which you can use."

" I still don't understand," I say "What are these abilities?"

He shakes his head, "it is much easier to let the texts explain and would take less time seeing as I," he pauses to collect his thoughts "I would probably go off on tangents so read." He puts his focus back on one of the books he had pulled down.

With that said and done I begin to pour over the books and the first he shows me is the fire breath ability. This one is what Spyro was using later that day. When we got hungry Volteer and I took a break to explore the kitchens and eat returning quickly to continue our studying. Soon I had a basic understanding of Fire and Ice, but it was getting late so Volteer decided that we would come back tomorrow and go over lighting and earth.

Volteer leads me to a room in the same hall and inside there were several beds, but it was completely empty. "Ah yes this is the chambers for young dragons that would grow up, live, and learn here," He looks around the empty room with a smile that slowly drops into a frown "it seems, uh, a bit too lonely in here doesn't it." He looks down at me and I shrug "You know I can probably convince Terrador to allow you to sleep in the elder dragons bedchamber. We have an extra bed in there for when Spyro was staying here."

"I wouldn't mind really," I say looking around the large empty room as well. I can feel the ghosts of the past almost and hear the echoing of laughter and conversations in this room.

With my answer, he leads me back to the main chamber with the pool of water. Terrador and Cyril are in there looking into the water as we walk in.

Looking up Terrador looks from Volteer to me "Spyro is gone," he says before I can ask "It is getting quite late Volteer aren't you going to show our guest to the sleeping chambers?" He strained the word guest as if it was something he didn't want to say.

"Well, Terrador I figured he can sleep with us," He says "The regular chambers are quite empty you know."

Terrador narrows his eyes "Fine," he says shortly and turns back to the pool.

Volteer grunts softly and leads me through the other door out of the room and I find myself in a large chamber with a very large dragon statue. From this chamber, we take a door to the left and we are in a smaller room but this one has several large beds as well a door that leads out to a balcony he motions to a bed that is slightly smaller and against the wall underneath a window in the corner of the chamber. "You can sleep there," he says.

Sleep begins to take over me and I slump over to the bed and curl on it. "Volteer," I say without raising my head, "why does Terrador hate me?"

Volteer crawls into the bed to my right and sighs "Terrador has many things in this world he finds distaste in," he replies "it is best you do not worry much about his likes and dislikes, now sleep," he bids me goodnight and I soon hear soft snores coming from him. Before I fall asleep I hear the door open again and I quickly shut my eyes leaving them open ever so slightly and see Terrador stride in and he casts me a glance and then retires to his bed. He is shortly followed by Cyril and soon enough the three elder dragons have fallen deeply asleep. I toss and turn before my dreams come willingly to me.

Smoke fills the air as I find myself standing on the edge of the crater of a volcano. Looking down into it I can see the lava rising and a roar fills the air as the surface of the magma erupts and a large dragons head emerges from it. I try to run, but I'm rooted in place again, and the dragon flings itself out of the lava and snaps me in its jaws. I jerk awake as this happens and I'm in a cold sweat. The sun is beginning to rise and I get up. Shaking slightly I stretch and walk out of the chamber and back into the room with the large dragon statue. Looking up at the dragon I try to understand why I've dreamt that.

Soon Volteer sleepily walks out of the bedchamber and sees me sitting there gazing at the statue. "Ah, Shadow," He says and notices my worried expression, "Are you feeling well?"

This knocks me out of my trance and I look back at him "No," I reply honestly "I've been having these strange dreams."

He sits down next to me "they must be bothering you," he says "If I may ask what are they about?" The dragon is very different from his normal self who is usually very chatty and outgoing in everything.

I look at the ground for a moment to compose my thoughts "It began with a village," I begin and recount my dream before waking up in Spyro's home and then go on to tell him the details of my recent dream "every time I try to run and get away but each time I'm stuck in place as if something is holding me down."

Volteer is quiet as he thinks "It could possibly be premonitions or simply just a nightmare, but whatever it is you can always discuss what happens in them with me. Now let us continue our studies on the dragon abilities and forget these dreams as best we can shall we?" he gives me a warm smile and I return it feeling better already.

We go to the kitchens to get food first and then are back in the library reading about lightning breath and then earth abilities. As we continue on Volteer decides its time to start training and finding what ability I possess. He leads me back to the room with the large dragon statue and somehow gets it to sink into the ground. He summons dummies that seem to appear out of thin air and then starts to show me how to fight.

"A dragons abilities are greatly enhanced when one knows how to wield his body in combat," he says.

"Why would I need to know how to fight?" I ask

"Fighting skills are necessary for multiple reasons, for one being it is very great exercise and another is that this land can become a dangerous place even in the most peaceful times. Dragons have always had enemies that would hunt us for no reason. Know this that there is always evil in this world it only wanes and waxes with time." He approaches a dummy "Now watch as I show you some very basic skills that are the building blocks for success." I watch diligently.

As the day progresses I show just how fast I learn and once I've shown how skilled I am in fighting as I dispatch the dummies with ease. Volteer then tells me to try and use the abilities we were reading about, but nothing. The day drags on as I go from trying to breathe fire to trying to electrocute the dummies, to moving the very earth to throw at them or even freeze them with ice breath, but nothing happens each and every time I try. Volteer looks stumped as the statue rises up once we are finished.

"This is quite an outcome," he says "Quite a predicament, problem, uncanny situation…" He falls into silence again and then his eyes grow wide and he smiles. "I know what we will do." He says "Tomorrow I will show you the Dark abilities."

"Dark abilities?" I ask

"Yes, I will explain everything in detail tomorrow." He says "For now let's eat and then rest."

That night my dreams don't bother me and the next day comes quickly and I find myself back in the library. Volteer pulls down a single book that is bound in black leather. He sets it down and I see the title is written with runes I cannot read. He opens it "This book details the Dark abilities you see the abilities I was showing you the yesterday and the one before are the Light ones. Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth are all a part of that but back before Malefor's rise to power there were four other widely used abilities." He says as he flips through the pages "Poison, Fear, Wind, and Darkness" He shows me a page in the book with the symbols for all the abilities in a circle. He flips through the pages and begins to read "Yes these abilities were used only for war except most likely wind, but they were primarily used by black dragons so I don't know why I bothered to see if you possessed the light ones. Though to my credit, even black dragons can possess those ones as well though it is fairly uncommon." He flips a few pages ahead "Let's start with darkness," he says and begins to read.

 _Darkness: This ability has many applications from blinding foes to allowing it's wielder to become the very shadows themselves. The wielder can seak up on enemies and surprise attack them from behind. The pages following the description are filled with basic techniques._

 _Poison: This ability is used to primarily inflict ailments on attackers, but another known factor is the ability to take the poison into one's own body and neutralize it. Many benefits if an ally is afflicted with this ability and needs medical treatment. Techniques follow this one as well as the others past it._

 _Fear: This ability is simple and very useful. Dragons possessing this can strike fear into the very souls of those they target and also focusing their ability emit several orbs that will stun many enemies and explode disorienting them and allowing for easy dispatching._

 _Wind: This ability can be used in fighting to enhance your speed or to disorient foes with blinding winds. Swirl yourself into a cyclone or simply being gale force winds on enemies with a single puff of breath. Though this ability can be used for combat it holds many uses outside of it as well. Powering wind-powered devices being one useful thing._

"Wow all of these sound really useful," I say as I look over the techniques, "you think I can use one of these?"

"For the answer to that, we won't know until we have tried it," Volteer says "first study up on it and see if you can memorize all the techniques first."

With this knowledge, we begin to study the abilities closely. I learn that Cynder can use all four of them. Maybe she could help me if she comes to the temple. This day melts away under all the books Volteer keeps pulling off the shelves and much like the Light abilities I learn about every Dark one that we will try to use tomorrow when he starts training me in some advanced moves. Lunch and dinner pass with quick trips to the kitchen and once the torches are the only thing that light the books we are reading and we both have heavy eyes we retire to our beds. That night I dream of flying through the night sky hidden amongst the stars and I hear a soft voice calling to me, but it's lost as I wake to the new day.

"Ok Shadow just concentrate and try to spit poison," Volteer says as I take a stance and with a deep breath trying to spit poison like one of the drawings has shown in the books, but nothing happens. In my anger, I swipe at the dummy and claw one of its arms off.

"This isn't working Volteer," I say angrily "It's useless I can't use any ability." I stalk out of the chamber. We had been at it all day and poison was the last ability to try and nothing happened. As I stalk aimlessly through the temple I find myself in the kitchens and ask for a hunk of any meat they could spare. I'm greeted by a rather yummy lamb leg and I tear into it. After I'm done I make my way down the hall and into the library. Once inside I find a random book titled "Dragons: Teeth Caring Instruction" And begin to read it without taking in the information. Once I notice Volteer is sitting next to me, reading the book over my shoulder quietly, I grunt acknowledging his presence.

"Shadow, don't give up so easily," He says with a comforting tone "It takes a while to learn what you can do." He sits down and continues talking "When I was young I knew I could breathe lightning but every time I tried nothing substantial happened. I continued to try and it took me weeks to even begin to do something other than shock myself." He chuckles "And I know you possess some kind of ability, every dragon does."

"It's just getting annoying," I say quietly still slumped glaring at the book in front of me.

"I know it is," He says "It must be difficult." He looks around and then asks "Do you know where you are from?"

"No," I say grumpily "I woke up in the forest and Spyro and Cynder found me."

Volteer looks interested "That's curious," He says "So you don't remember anything before that?"

"No," I say looking away with a sigh. This was partially true. When I tried to think about anything prior to that I find my memory fuzzy and nothing seems to be clear past the night I woke up in the forest. I close the book and look up at Volteer. I'm happy he seemed to trust me and was trying to help. "Thank you for trying to cheer me up," I tell him giving a slight smile.

He returns the smile "You're very welcome," He says getting up "You know maybe you will remember your abilities once your memories return to you."

"Maybe," I say and get up yawning too "All I want to do now is sleep." Volteer nods and we make our way back to the sleeping chamber. Though the sun had barely set the night was cool and the full moon shined through the window and bathed me in a ghostly color. I stare out the window at its full glory and sigh laying my head down. "Volteer?"

"Yes," his reply comes sleepily as he lifts his head to look at me.

"When you were young and finally used your ability right for the first time," I begin looking out the window at the moon "what did it feel like?"

He smiles and laughs "it was wonderful," he says "my teacher was quite surprised I didn't electrocute myself again and she praised my perseverance." He remembered that day warmly "Just remember Shadow you will find your ability all it takes is time." I nod a confirmation "Now let's rest and tomorrow we will try again ok?"

"Ok," I reply my confirmation.

Two days pass with no luck and more failure and soon I find myself on my sixth day here. Volteer has dropped learning how to use any of the abilities for the moment and we focus on learning fighting skills. Soon I'm basically a blur dashing between the dummies dispatching them quickly and from Volteer's cheering and excitement I can tell I'm doing well. Soon even the sixth day ends and we are laying down again. I see the moon waning now but looking down at me through the clouds and I close my eyes. 'tomorrow I'll find it or the next day it doesn't matter I can do this' my thoughts drift into my sleep and again I am soaring over the clouds and I hear the same faint voice calling my name.


	4. War Stories

**War Stories**

 **Ok I am back been up to a lot recently working and all that broke my computer screen no biggie, but I am back I will continue this story I must finish it...THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Anyway, RnR enjoy etc you are all awesome and have a great day. Chaio**

The soft midnight blue skies envelop me as I glide through the moonlight on open wings feeling the cool air whip past my face. It was pleasant and relaxing seeing the ground below fly past me as I continued on into the night. A movement to my right catches my attention and I bring myself to a stop using my wings to keep me hovering in the air. Another dragon is flying in the distance and a soft humming fills the air around me as I watch it glide further and further away. I try to follow it as it dives into the forest below and disappears underneath the trees. I drop too and land where it seemed to be last and see a soft white trail of flowers that have sprouted where there were none moments before. A feeling sprouted in my chest, a longing, and I follow them not know what I will find. Before long a clearing appears between two trees and I step into it and see the dragon across a small pond. A large dragon whose wings span the length of the clearing and scales shine brightly in the moonlight. It has bone white scales and glowing blue eyes and it looks at me and I feel as if it can see into my soul. "Wake up," is all it says and the world goes black around me.

My eyes fly open and I sit up suddenly looking around confused. The moon still hung in the sky like a giant glowing marble and cast a soft light into the bedchamber. That dream was so real I could almost swear I was actually there. Suddenly a soft humming fills the air again and I blink trying to seek out the noise in the moonlit darkness. It seems to be coming from outside the room. Carefully and quietly I slipped out my bed and swiftly followed the sound slipping out of the bedchamber as quiet as a mouse so as not to disturb the elder dragons. The humming cut through the training room as well and was coming from the main chamber so I approach the wooden doors and push them open and step in.

As I turn from closing the door I'm greeted by a dimly lit room. The pool that I always see Terrador and Cyril standing over is washing the room in a soft light as the moon outside reflects off it. The humming seems to be coming from it. I walk over to it and look down into the still waters. At first, all I see is my reflection looking back at me, but then the water ripples starting from the center of the pool and expands out until it hits my refection. Suddenly I see a different image in the pool.

Striking blue eyes stare up at me and beautiful silver scales that seem to sparkle in the moonlight as a beautiful dragon appears. She looks at me and smiles and I can suddenly hear the humming clearly and it is coming from her. As the pool ripples again another dragon appears beside her. This one a rather large black dragon with red eyes and a gap in the scales on his chin shows a silvery scar that goes down to the base of his neck. He looks me in the eye and bows his head. The image in the pool suddenly changes and I suddenly I see the temple library. It is as if I'm looking through someone else's eyes as the image moves forward and into the library. They walk straight past the dragon statue and to the bookshelf and I see a large black scaled paw enter the image and push a few books out of the way and grab a hold of a scroll. The scroll is rolled up and wrapped with a red ribbon to keep it closed. The hand puts it back down and the image ripples and the two dragons are standing there again. They both smile at me and bow their heads as the pool ripples and they disappear.

My mind is reeling as I gaze into the pool for a few moments trying to process what had just happened. I suddenly realize what they were trying to show me and, quickly and quietly, I head off to the library. The halls of the temple are dark as all the torches have been extinguished and the only light is the moonbeams that shine through the windows. As I make it to the library door and open it up I'm relieved to find the torches in the room are still lit and I slip in and close the door behind me. Walking straight to where the image in the pool showed me I see it. The scroll is laying there as if someone had left it just for me to find, but it looks different. The scroll looks older and ragged and the ribbon is faded. The worst part is that half of it appears to have been ripped off leaving only a small portion of the scroll remaining. I carefully pick it up and bring it over to a table and slide the ribbon off and open it. At the top of the scroll is a rune that I can't read but someone has scrawled a word underneath it. Leaning close I read the word "Metal". The rest of the scroll is filled with runes with some being the same as the one on top but I cannot read any of it. I sigh but then looking closer I see someone has scribbled a few words in the space between some of the runes. It reads "This is the scroll of the ancients telling of the ability of old called Metal. This ability has long since been thought dead..." The rest of it is lost to where ever the other half of the scroll lies now.

Reading and rereading these words don't help much, but as I'm about to put the scroll away, a sudden pounding in my skull throws me off as my vision blurs and I crumple to the floor. I close my eyes then open them standing back up. Looking around I see that I am not in the library anymore, but instead, I appear to be standing in a dimly lit cave. As my eyes scan the area I see her again. The large silver dragoness is laying on the ground humming that same lullaby and caressing something between her front legs. I slowly walk around and see it's a small black baby dragon. She is singing him to sleep it appears. Suddenly there's a voice at the entrance of the cave.

"Luna? Luna?!" It calls frantically

"Irons?" She looks up as a large black dragon appears in the cave. They don't appear to notice me or maybe I'm not really there because the black dragon seems to look straight through me at the silver dragoness. "Be quiet I just got him to sleep." She looks down at the baby dragon who is snoring softly.

"Luna there's no time," Irons says "We need to get you out of here Malefor found you." He checks over his shoulder.

"N-No," Luna says fear in her eyes "He couldn't have…how?"

"I don't know but you have to take Shadow and leave now." He says "Malefor sent Mykyr."

Luna stands up and the baby dragon wakes up startled "Momma," He says sleepily yawning "Momma I thought it was bedtime." He looks up at the dragoness with half-lidded eyes.

She has a soft look in her eyes as she bends her head down "oh sweetie I'm sorry, but we have to go," with this she picks him up and sets him on his feet just for him to sit down too tired to move "honey there is a very bad dragon after us we need to…" Whatever she said next I don't know as the scene seems to shift and blur and suddenly the cave is less inviting. There is blood on the floor that is coming from the entrance and I follow its trail and see the dragoness backed into a corner with the young dragon behind her. She has been cornered by a large intimidating black dragon that wasn't the one from before.

"Oh Luna," He says with a sickly sweet voice "you didn't think you could hide from my master forever did you." He looks from her to the baby dragon behind her. "You and your bastard," he chuckles evilly "Oh don't worry little one I won't hurt you. I'm just going to kill your mother if she doesn't give you to me right. NOW!" He lunges for the baby but is intercepted by the silver dragoness as she sinks her teeth into his neck and throws him away.

"Mykyr you will never have my child," She says fiercely as she puts herself firmly between the black dragon and the young dragon.

The large black dragon coughs and spits up a little blood and laughs again "Oh Luna you're not even supposed to have him," he says "Tsk tsk tsk you broke tradition didn't you falling in love with that traitor Irons." He has started twiddling something between his fingers as he stands back up. He throws it at Luna's feet and I see it's a large silver talon. "Here a gift from Irons probably the only thing you'll ever have left of him," He laughs harder at Luna's distraught expression "Oh yes he was quite a fighter almost had me, but he was weak to side with the elder dragons and their army. We are stronger and if you'd have come with us, in the beginning, none of this would be happening."

"Y-You evil bastard," Luna says her voice breaking.

The black dragon begins to approach her chuckling evilly "Oh yes I am," His expression is one of pure malice "now hand over the kid or do I have to tear you to pieces to get to him?"

Luna looks back at the young dragon who is standing there shivering in fear she looks back at the black dragon "Mykyr you will never have him," She says and the black dragon lunges at her. What happens next is almost unreal as the black dragon seems to halt in midair and then, enveloped in light, disappears. Luna falls over coughing violently and shivering. "Sh-Shadow come here," She says weakly and the young black dragon approaches her. She lifts her head and I can see her eyes are glowing slightly as she lifts a paw to the young dragons head. "I can't protect you anymore," She says softly "but I can send you away from this." She places a talon on his head and the young dragon vanishes. "Be safe...my child," She says laying her head down "You will...return...one day long from now." I watch as she seems to turn to mist and vanish.

I'm left in a void left to reel over what I just witnessed. A memory? A hallucination? Was there some higher power at work? No, yes, maybe? My mind goes a thousand miles a minute and I sit down staring into the void willing myself to focus. "Mother..." is all I say when my eyes are suddenly filled with light and I am thrust back into consciousness again.

Suddenly I jerk awake and stand up. I had passed out on the library floor and I must have hit my head because I have a splitting headache. My blood goes ice cold as a voice interrupts my thoughts. "So, you've been doing a bit of late night reading?" It says and I turn to face the large green dragon that is standing on the other side of the table.

Frozen in place I take a sharp breath "Terrador," I say slowly "ah yes I've just been trying to learn a bit more about the abilities Volteer was teaching me about."

Terrador looks down at the scroll and grunts "Ah yes this ability is ancient," he says seemingly uninterested in the fact I was just passed out on the floor "there has only been one dragon I've known to possess it." He looks back at me with a hint of interest in his eye. Moving around the table he sits down next to me. "I seem to have been avoiding you," he says keeping his eyes focused on the scroll.

I nod sitting down "Maybe a little," I begin to wonder what's going on "Is there a problem?"

His answer comes slowly but he sighs "Yes there is a problem," He looks away for a second "Volteer has been speaking with me, keeping frequent updates about your progress, and continually tells me to get over my old grudges." He takes a deep breath and continues "I find it hard to forget my past, and your arrival has brought it back to me with a vengeance and I fear you might never understand why I feel this way."

With a sudden spike in my courage, I stand up "you know what," I say letting a little anger into my voice "I'm tired of you avoiding me and treating me like a threat."

He seems taken aback by my sudden outburst and I see a look twinkle in his eye, respect maybe, quickly he responds "you may not understand why" He says "but if you would let me I can explain."

I can sense a change in his body language he seems to be a little nervous or apprehensive. I sit back down "Ok, fine, then explain." I say still angry with him, but I will hold the rest of my judgment when he gives his reason.

Clearing his throat he begins his tale. "Long ago," he starts "Long before even Spyro was born. There was a time when this temple abounded with life." He looks around "This library was full of young and new minds full of excitement. There was a time when there were eight dragon elders and not four. They were Mykyr, Brega, Eitr, and Otti. Each was black dragons with a mastery of Dark, Wind, Poison, and Fear respectively. They taught the black dragons, who were the only ones able to use these abilities, of each generation on how to control and master their skills so as to not harm anyone since those powers are very dangerous." He takes a breath and continues "Peace was plentiful in this land with little evil to be found in it, but then the purple dragon was born. Malefor grew up around all eight of the elder dragons and in turn learned each light ability, but then he began to learn the dark ones. He showed prowess that we had never seen before learning each ability and mastering it. Once he was done there he wanted more power that we would not and could not give him. Though we tried to help him he fell into darkness and evil. We banished him from the temple and he fled into exile. We knew he would be back, but we did not know he would come back with such ferocity. His first return he offered us a simple choice. To join him or to renounce him and die." Terrador's voice filled with a burning hatred at those last words. "The demon then left us to brood amongst ourselves. The dark elders immediately suggest we heed him, but the rest of us shunned that idea. Little did we know that they had taken council amongst themselves and soon we found our numbers dwindle as the dark elders and all but three of their pupils leave and join him. Of the three that remained was Irons our general for our army. The other two were Cynders parents, but they fled with the rest of the dragons into hiding, but they were later killed, but not before Cynder's egg was laid. Irons, on the other hand, was loyal until the end. He was the dragon I was talking about who had discovered and master the Metal abilities on his own. He was my friend and when Malefor attacked we faced his armies as brothers upon the field of battle." He stops for a second and looks around "Now I guess it is time I explain my distrust after giving you the history. It all happened after Malefor, who was now calling himself the Dark master, was defeated. His defeat sent the apes and the black dragons into hiding, but years after we began hearing of apes raiding small villages and even sightings of black dragons. Around this time there were new eggs being laid and as we expected another purple dragon was to be born as the prophecy predicted. Soon after though the dark armies rose up coming from the wilds and in force they began to march across the land. We fought them valiantly but we were no match for the black dragons were with them and they appeared to have more power than before. We began to hunt the black dragons and before the temple was overtaken we hunted all but their masters into extinction. Once the temple was breached and Ignitus had hidden the purple dragon away all four of the dragon elders and the remains of the guardian dragons flew with a vengeance. We first hunted down Eitr the master fear and with our small force, of which we lost one, we defeated him and Cyril froze him in a glacier. Next, we hunted Otti and Brega who were masters of fear and wind. They fled to a small island far to the south and as we fought them we mortally wounded Otti, but before we could turn on Brega she summoned a tempest and we fled to find that the winds began to encircle the entirety of the small island then and even to this day. We keep a constant watch on the island to make sure Brega never escapes. Finally, we went on the hunt for Mykyr who had hidden well once he caught wind of our vendetta. We had only five of our numbers left myself, Ignitus, Volteer, Cyril, and Irons with the rest of the dragons in hiding. Irons still had contacts spread throughout the land and one night while we rested a very injured cheetah ran out of the forest to us and delivered a message. He told us that our greatest treasure was about to be stolen. At first we thought it was Spyro but the cheetah shook his head and told us it was the one who shone like the moon. When he said this Irons had left almost immediately while I and the other three dragons began to interrogate the cheetah for more information. We found that the information was hidden in our minds and we had used strong magic to wipe the memory from ourselves so as to keep the secret hidden."

I had been listening intently the entire time but when he said this I quickly asked: "Was it a silver dragon?"

Terrador looks very surprised "Yes it was a silver dragon how would you know that?"

"I uh read about them," I lie.

He looks at me suspiciously and continues his story "Yes it was the ancient silver dragon she was to be reborn that year since her time had come to pass on, but we had hidden her from Malefor because of the incredible power she possessed. Many worshipped the silver dragons as gods. In any case, once we had the information we set out after irons and once we arrived we found many dead apes and irons body. He was dead and his body mutilated. I was furious and I ran in to find the cave filled with nothing but mist and blood. Then in my mind, a voice spoke to me. It told me what I was looking for and where to find it. Without a second thought, I flew out with more anger than I ever held before. I found the traitor atop a volcano where he lay waiting. When he saw me approach he stood up and sneered in all his arrogance. He spoke to me and told me how he found the silver dragon. He spared no detail in describing Iron's death. My blood was boiling" Terrador was shaking now his voice trembling with rage and sorrow "I found myself filled with so much hatred and fear, but also something more bloomed inside of me. A power I never thought I could possess. It seemed as if time slowed before me and my element was more powerful than before. This power the ancients granted me to slay the demon before me and rid the world of his foul kind once and for all. I attacked and he had no time to retaliate. We fought on top of that volcano until his bitter end when I plunged him deep into the magma. He tried to escape but I buried him under tons of rock. That day was the last day Mykyr ever had in this realm." By the end of his story, I saw he was beginning to grind a groove in the stone floor beneath his paws.

"I never knew that," I tell him feeling the revelation wash over me as he ends his story.

He takes a deep shaky breath "I am sorry Shadow for treating you the way I have this past week," He says "I just miss my friends, my brother, and the dark elders were the ones who tore them all away." He begins to cry. I watch as the battle-hardened warrior sheds his silent tears. I want to say something but before I can Terrador rises to his feet and turns and begins to walk to the door. "Good night Shadow." With that, he leaves.

I stand there in complete silence for a second and then I get up and roll the scroll back up, fit the ribbon back over it, and place it back on the shelf. I then leave the library as well and walk back to the sleeping chambers. I stop in the main chamber and walk over to the pool of water and look into it to only see myself in the dim reflection. As I enter the sleeping chambers I see Terrador has fallen back asleep or is a very good pretender, and I go and lie down. Sleep finds me instantly and is filled with the silver dragoness. She smiles at me and we fly silently together. The night wears on and the day will soon come, but for now, I have a faint memory of a time before with someone who loved me.


End file.
